Melanie Perkins

Melanie Perkins
Perkins in 2019
Melanie Perkins
Born	Template:Birth year and age
Birthplace	Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Occupation	Technology entrepreneur, business executive
Known for	Co-founder and CEO of Canva
Education	University of Western Australia

Melanie Perkins (born 1987) is an Australian technology entrepreneur and business executive who co-founded and serves as chief executive officer of Canva, an online graphic design platform valued at approximately US$42 billion as of 2025. Perkins launched her first business, Fusion Books, a web-based yearbook publisher, while still a university student in Perth, Western Australia. That early venture became the foundation for a far more ambitious idea: democratising design by making professional-quality graphic tools accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Together with co-founders Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams, Perkins built Canva into one of the world's most valuable private technology companies, with hundreds of millions of users globally. In 2023, Perkins was listed on the Forbes list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women and ranked 92nd on FortuneTemplate:'s Most Powerful Women list. She and Obrecht have signed the Giving Pledge, committing to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes.

Early Life

Melanie Perkins was born in 1987 in Perth, Western Australia. She attended Sacred Heart College in Perth. From an early age, Perkins demonstrated an entrepreneurial disposition. As a teenager, she made and sold handmade scarves, an early indicator of her inclination toward creating and selling products.

Perkins has spoken publicly about how her early experiences shaped her approach to business. The idea that eventually led to Canva began to germinate while she was tutoring fellow students in graphic design software. She observed that existing design tools such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign were complex and required substantial training to use effectively. The steep learning curve struck her as an unnecessary barrier, and she began to envision a simpler, browser-based alternative that would allow non-designers to produce professional-quality materials.

Growing up in Perth — geographically remote from the major technology hubs of Silicon Valley and the eastern Australian cities — Perkins faced the additional challenge of limited access to technology investors and startup networks. Despite this, she channelled her observations about design accessibility into her first company while still an undergraduate.

Education

Perkins enrolled at the University of Western Australia (UWA), where she studied communications, media, and commerce. It was during her time at UWA that she met Cliff Obrecht, who would become her long-term business partner and, later, her spouse. While at university, Perkins began tutoring other students in design software, an experience that crystallised her conviction that design tools needed to be fundamentally simplified.

Rather than completing her degree in the conventional manner, Perkins directed much of her energy toward her first startup. She and Obrecht launched Fusion Books during their university years, applying the same principle that would later underpin Canva: making a complex design process easy enough for anyone to undertake through a web-based drag-and-drop interface.

Career

Fusion Books

In 2007, while still a student at the University of Western Australia, Perkins co-founded Fusion Books with Cliff Obrecht. The company was an online platform that allowed school students and administrators to design and order custom yearbooks using a simplified, browser-based interface. The premise was straightforward: yearbook creation had traditionally been cumbersome, often requiring desktop publishing expertise or reliance on expensive external designers. Fusion Books streamlined this process, enabling users to drag and drop photos and text into templates to produce professional-looking yearbooks.

Fusion Books grew to become one of Australia's largest yearbook publishers. The company expanded beyond Australia into markets including France and New Zealand. The experience of building Fusion Books provided Perkins and Obrecht with practical knowledge in product development, customer acquisition, and managing a technology-driven business. It also reinforced Perkins's belief that there was a much larger market opportunity in simplifying graphic design beyond yearbooks — for everything from social media graphics and presentations to marketing materials and printed products.

Founding Canva

The idea for Canva grew directly out of the lessons Perkins learned at Fusion Books. She envisioned a platform that would encompass a broad range of design tasks, all accessible through a web browser with no prior design training required. The concept was ambitious: to challenge established design software companies by offering a free or low-cost alternative that emphasised ease of use.

Perkins and Obrecht began seeking investment to bring the concept to life. Securing venture capital proved difficult, particularly given their base in Perth, far from Silicon Valley. Perkins has recounted in interviews that she pitched to over 100 investors and was rejected by many before gaining traction. In an effort to connect with investors and mentors in the technology industry, Perkins travelled to Silicon Valley to attend conferences and make connections.

A turning point came when Perkins secured a meeting with Bill Tai, a prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist. Tai became an early adviser and helped connect Perkins with additional investors and contacts in the technology industry. Through Tai, Perkins also met Cameron Adams, a former Google employee and technologist who had extensive experience in web development and user interface design. Adams joined as the third co-founder, bringing critical technical expertise to complement Perkins's product vision and Obrecht's operational capabilities.

Canva was officially launched in 2013, based in Sydney, Australia. The platform offered a freemium model — a free tier with basic features and paid subscriptions (Canva Pro and Canva for Enterprise) for advanced functionality. From the outset, the product prioritised simplicity, providing a drag-and-drop interface, a vast library of templates, stock images, fonts, and design elements that enabled users to create graphics without specialised skills.

Growth and Valuation

Canva experienced rapid user adoption following its launch. The platform attracted individuals, small businesses, educators, students, and large organisations alike. By 2015, the company had been valued at approximately AU$165 million, drawing attention as one of Australia's fastest-growing technology startups.

By 2019, Canva had reached profitability — a notable achievement for a venture-backed technology company at its stage — and was valued at approximately US$3.2 billion. A Forbes profile that year highlighted the company's unusual financial discipline, noting that it had achieved profitability while continuing to grow its user base at a significant pace.

The company's valuation continued to climb in subsequent years, driven by accelerating adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic as businesses, schools, and individuals turned to digital tools for remote work and communication. Canva expanded its product suite to include features such as video editing, website building, and team collaboration tools. The platform broadened from individual consumer use to enterprise applications, competing more directly with established software from companies like Adobe and Microsoft.

By 2025, Canva's valuation had reached approximately US$42 billion, making it one of the most valuable private technology companies in the world. The company reported having hundreds of millions of users globally. In August 2025, Canva facilitated an employee share sale that allowed past and present employees — referred to internally as "Canvanauts" — to sell up to US$3 million of their vested equity, a move that created a number of overnight millionaires among the company's staff.

Product Expansion and Artificial Intelligence

Under Perkins's leadership, Canva continued to expand its product offerings beyond its original design focus. In April 2025, the company launched Canva Sheets, a spreadsheet tool, and Canva Code, a generative artificial intelligence coding tool. Perkins stated publicly that a tool like Canva Code would have made a significant difference during her own early experience building technology products.

The introduction of AI-powered features marked a strategic evolution for Canva, positioning the company not merely as a design tool but as a broader productivity and creativity platform. Cameron Adams, co-founder, noted in a 2025 interview that the company's AI capabilities, including its AI image generator, had become central to its product identity.

As of 2025, Perkins had not taken Canva public through an initial public offering, despite widespread industry speculation that such a move was forthcoming. A Fortune profile noted that instead of pursuing an IPO, Perkins had been "head-down in Sydney, building," continuing to develop the company's product capabilities and expand its user base.

Leadership Style

Perkins has been noted for a customer-centric approach to product development. In a 2025 interview, she articulated her philosophy by stating that "everything good was once imagined," emphasising the importance of envisioning solutions from the user's perspective before building them. She has also spoken about the importance of focus and healthy habits in sustaining productivity as a founder running a large-scale enterprise. A 2025 profile described her approach to maintaining focus while leading one of the world's most valuable private technology companies.

Perkins has maintained Canva's headquarters in Sydney, a decision that distinguishes the company from many technology startups of comparable scale, which frequently relocate to Silicon Valley or other major US technology hubs. This choice has been noted as reflective of her commitment to building a global technology company from Australia.

Personal Life

Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, who met as students at the University of Western Australia, are both business and life partners. The pair co-founded Fusion Books together and subsequently co-founded Canva. They married in January 2021.

In December 2021, Perkins and Obrecht signed the Giving Pledge, a commitment initiated by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in which signatories pledge to give away the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes. At the time, Perkins and Obrecht were among the youngest individuals to have joined the pledge. Perkins stated that she and Obrecht viewed much of their wealth as being held in trust for the purpose of doing good, rather than for personal accumulation.

In 2023, Perkins and fellow Western Australian Gina Rinehart's daughter Ginia Rinehart were identified as among Australia's youngest billionaires, both at age 36.

Despite her substantial personal wealth, Perkins has maintained a reputation for a relatively modest lifestyle. She and Obrecht have spoken in interviews about prioritising their philanthropic commitments over personal luxury.

Recognition

Perkins has received numerous accolades for her work in technology and entrepreneurship. Her recognitions include:

• Forbes World's 100 Most Powerful Women (2023): Perkins was included on ForbesTemplate:' annual list of the world's most powerful women, reflecting her role leading one of the most valuable private technology companies globally.
• Fortune Most Powerful Women (2023): Perkins was ranked 92nd on FortuneTemplate:'s Most Powerful Women list.
• Fortune Most Powerful Women Asia (2025): Perkins was featured on FortuneTemplate:'s Most Powerful Women Asia-Pacific ranking.
• Forbes Billionaires List: Perkins has appeared on the Forbes global billionaires list as a result of her stake in Canva.

The University of Western Australia has highlighted Perkins and Obrecht as notable alumni, profiling them as "high-tech heroes" in the university's publications.

Perkins has also been recognised as one of the youngest self-made billionaires in Australia. Her position as CEO of a technology company valued at over US$40 billion has made her one of the most prominent female technology executives globally.

Media coverage of Perkins has appeared in outlets including the BBC, Forbes, Fortune, The Sydney Morning Herald, The West Australian, and Entrepreneur, among others.

Legacy

Melanie Perkins's career trajectory — from tutoring design students in Perth to leading a US$42 billion technology company — represents one of the most significant entrepreneurial stories to emerge from Australia's technology sector. Canva's growth under her leadership has been cited as evidence that globally competitive technology companies can be built outside of Silicon Valley, challenging the conventional assumption that founders must relocate to the United States to build companies at scale.

The platform she co-founded has altered how millions of people approach graphic design. By providing accessible tools at low or no cost, Canva has enabled individuals, small businesses, non-profit organisations, and educational institutions to produce professional-quality visual materials without hiring designers or learning complex software. This democratisation of design capability has had measurable effects across industries including marketing, education, and media.

Perkins's signing of the Giving Pledge, alongside Obrecht, has also positioned the couple as prominent figures in the growing movement of technology founders who commit to large-scale philanthropy during their lifetimes rather than accumulating wealth indefinitely. Their pledge, made when they were in their mid-thirties, was among the earliest such commitments by founders of their generation.

Her decision to keep Canva headquartered in Sydney, to maintain a relatively modest personal profile despite her wealth, and to focus on long-term product development rather than a rapid path to an IPO have been noted as distinguishing features of her leadership approach. As of 2025, with Canva continuing to expand into new product areas including AI-powered tools, spreadsheets, and coding platforms, Perkins's influence on the technology industry continues to grow.